How to validate checkbox in laravel ?

Certainly! Below is a step-by-step guide on how to validate checkbox in Laravel application. Let’s assume you are working on a form that includes checkbox and you want to make sure that at least one checkbox is selected before the form is submitted.

We will take a simple example as well to understand this. Checkbox values can be 0, 1, true, false, yes and no. if we want its checked then values must be positive like 1, true and yes.

Checkbox input is check then it gives a value but if its not checked then the key for input field is unset so we do not get in the submitted form value. So to handle this we need the accepted rule of laravel validation library.

Validate checkbox in laravel using accepted rule

we will use here accepted rule

<?php 
return Validator::make(request()->all(), [
    'checkbox' =>'accepted'
]);

Let’s understand this with example

Step 1: Set up your Laravel project

If you don’t have a Laravel project set up, you can create one using Composer:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel checkbox-validation
cd checkbox-validation

Step 2: Create a Form

Create a form in your blade view (e.g., resources/views/checkbox-form.blade.php) with checkbox:

<form method="post" action="{{ route('process.form') }}">
    @csrf

    <label for="option1">Option 1</label>
    <input type="checkbox" id="option1" name="option" value="1">
    <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

Step 3: Create a Controller

Create a controller to handle the form submission and validation:

php artisan make:controller FormController

Edit the generated FormController.php:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class FormController extends Controller
{
    public function showForm()
    {
        return view('checkbox-form');
    }

    public function processForm(Request $request)
    {
        $request->validate([
            'option' => 'accepted'
        ]);
        
        //here we get the option value if its not set then we are setting default to 0
        $valueOption = $request->get("option",'0');
        // Continue processing if validation passes

        return "Form submitted successfully!";
    }
}

here we get the option value if its not set then we are setting default to 0

$request->get("option",'0');

Step 4: Define Routes

In your routes/web.php, define the routes for showing the form and processing the form:

<?php
use App\Http\Controllers\FormController;

Route::get('/form', [FormController::class, 'showForm'])->name('show.form');
Route::post('/form', [FormController::class, 'processForm'])->name('process.form');

Step 5: Run the Application

Run the development server:

php artisan serve

Visit http://localhost:8000/form in your browser to see the form. Try submitting the form with and without selecting any checkboxe. Laravel’s validation will ensure that at least one checkbox is selected.